This Way

for the Gas,

Ladies and
Gentlemen
By Tadeusz Borowski

English 102: The Art of Fiction

Prof. Helen Ellis
Matthew Seidler (0588687)

Version 2: Compressed

This presentation has been made available, in

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page (Earth Day!)

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 The Holocaust
The systematic annihilation of Jews by the
Nazis between 1933 and 1945
Nazis believed Germans were racially
superior
Influenced by anti-semitism/influx of
refugees, USA & Britain did not respond
Realpolitik

According to Wikipedia

Realpolitik (German: real ("realistic",

"practical" or "actual") and Politik
("politics")) is a term used to describe
politics based on strictly practical rather
than idealistic notions, and practiced
without any "sentimental illusions".

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 Genocide
Raphael Lemkin
After the Holocaust
Genos = family/tribe/race
Cide = to massacre
"any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such: killing
members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to
members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and
forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (UN)

Tadeusz Borowski
Not Jewish
Pole, at Auschwitz in 1943 (involvement in
underground literature/poetry meetings, his
depression, the fact that he was a poet)
Was in prison for two months before being moved to
Auschwitz
Had many bad jobs during the war
In his writing, there is no good - all the good of the
outside world is gone inside the concentration camp

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 The Style
Clear, concise, simple, short sentences

The Narrator
Nameless
1st person point of view
Doesnt leave out any details *
Relation to style
Distanced perspective (WHY?), does not
voice his opinion, yet still emotionally involved
Borowski: Clinical depression, committed
suicide (irony)
Why write this?
Coping mechanism? (autobiographical?)
Revolt? (Darfur, Rwanda, etc) Bear witness
Well talk more about this later

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 The First Sentence
All of us walk around naked (107).
(note the simplicity)
Foreshadows the inhumanity that is to
come
Whats left after youve lost all of your
possessions, your clothes, and are
stripped of all dignity?
References to corpses

Theme: The atrocities man is

capable of
Borowski: writer, has a family
Story shows how anyone is capable of
cruelty

Okprove it!

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 In Borowskis Bio
Jan Kott describes the story as one of
the crullest testimonies to what men did
to men, and a pitiless verdict that
anything can be done to a human
being

Narrator:
Cant you see how much easier life is
becoming around here: no limit on packages,
no more beatings? [] One hears all kind of
talk, and, dammit, theyll run out of
people!(108)

Henri:
They cant run out of people, or well starve to
death in this blasted camp. All of us live on
what they bring(108).

Later on:
Around us sit the Greeks, their jaws working
greedily, like huge human insects (111).

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 Continued
Workers become dependant on the
camp (irony)
Contradiction:
How can the victims themselves become
so inhumane?
Loss of all feeling
Just as bad as the Nazis?

The Rabbi Scene

He has covered his head with a piece of rag
torn off a blanket and reads from a Hebrew
prayer book [] wailing loudly, monotonously.
Cant somebody shut him up? Hes been
raving as if hed caught God himself by the
feet.
I dont feel like moving. Let him rave. Theyll
take him to the oven that much sooner (109).

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 Victims become inhumane
You see, my friend, you see, I dont know why, but I am
furious, simply furious with these people - furious because I
must be here because of them. I feel no pity. I am not sorry
theyre going to the gas chamber. Damn them all! I could throw
myself at them, beat them with my fists. It must be pathological,
I just cant understand(114). (coping mechanism)
The ramp exhausts you, you rebel - and the easiest way to
relieve your hate is to turn against someone weaker. Why, Id
even call it healthy (114).

Narrator is not a bad person!

Victims become inhumane

Pick up your child, woman!
Its not mine, sir, its not mine! she shouts hysterically and runs on,
covering her face with her hands. She wants to hide, she wants to
reach those who will not ride the trucks, those who will go on foot,
those who will stay alive. She is young [] and wants to live.
But the child runs after her, wailing loudly: Mama, mama, dont leave me!
[]
Ah, you bloody Jewess! So youre running from your own child! Ill show
you, you whore! His huge hand chokes her []
Here! And take this with you, bitch! and he throws the child at her feet.
[] good work (115).

Relation to Elie Weisels Night

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 Loss of Faith
Religion is the opium of the people, Henri []
says sententiously. If they didnt believe in God
and eternal life, theyd have smashed the
crematoria long ago(109). (Beginning)

The name of God sounds stangely pointless,

since the women and the infants will go on the
trucks, every one of them, without exception.
We all know what this means (113). (End)
Relation to Elie Weisels Night

For those who dare to forget

the atrocities
Borowski uses graphic depictions of
violence

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 Graphic Depictions
Humans are objectified
This is where they load freight for Birkenau:
supplies for the concentration of the camp, and
people for the gas chambers. Trucks drive around,
load up lumber, cement, people - a regular daily
routine (110).
References to cattle cars
References to pigs, chickens, dogs, etc
stray children [] howling like dogs (117).
We carry them out like chickens, holding several
in each hand (113).

Graphic Depictions
I go back inside the train; I carry out
dead infants; I unload luggage. I touch
corpses, but I cannot overcome the
mounting, uncontrollable terror. I try to
escape from the corpses, but they are
everywhere (116).

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 Objectifying Humans
Efficiency: For each departing truck he
enters a mark; sixteen gone means one
thousand people, more or less [] The
marks swell into thousands, the
thousands into whole transports, whhich
afterwards we shall simply call from
Salonica [] the new prisoners [] will
receive serial numbers(113).

Graphic Depictions of
Violence
trucks growl like mad dogs. I shut my eyes tight, but
I can still see corpses dragged from the train,
trampled infants, cripples piled on top of the dead,
wave after wave [] I am not sure if all of this is
actually happening, or I am dreaming. There is a
humming inside my head; I feel that I must vomit
(114).
Contradiction --> he does have feelings!

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Again weary, pale faces at the windows,
flat as though cut out of paper, with
huge, feverishly burning eyes (115).

Irony
Meine Herrschaften, this way, ladies
and gentlemen, try not to throw your
things around, please. Show some
goodwill he says courteously(112).

Meine Herrschaften = my rule

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 Irony
Trucks leave and return, without
interruption, as on a monstrous
conveyor belt. A Red Cross van drives
back and forth [] it transports the gas
that will kill these people. The enormous
cross on the hood, red as blood, seems
to dissolve in the sun (113).

Irony
After vomiting
Suddenly I see the camp as a haven of
peace. It is true, others may be dying,
but one is somehow still alive, one has
enough food, enough strength to work
(118).

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 Victims are systematically
annihilated
serial numbers
carry them out like chickens
Trucks leave and return [] as on a
monstrous conveyor belt
he enters a mark; sixteen gone means
one thousand people

Power of Words (cont. of

Why write this?)
Story is a means of revolting against the
enemies and to speak for those who
cannot
Lack of silence = victory for humanity
To go face to face with death, and live
to write about it = oppressors lose

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